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John 1:16

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16 For of his fulness we all received, and grace for grace.

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Arcana Coelestia #10053

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10053. 'It is a burnt offering to Jehovah' means the glorification of the Lord's Human. This is clear from the representation of 'a burnt offering' as the glorification of the Lord's Human. The Jewish nation had sacrifices and burnt offerings; the sacrifices served to mean purification from evils and falsities and the implantation of truth, but burnt offerings served to mean the joining of truth to good, thus complete regeneration. In the highest sense however, in which the Lord is the subject, sacrifices meant the ejection of evils and falsities from His Human derived from the mother and the implantation of Divine Truth from the Divine Good that was within Him, while the burnt offerings meant the uniting of Divine Truth to Divine Good. This uniting is what should be understood by glorification. For when He was in the world the Lord made His Human Divine Truth, and also, by uniting this in stages to the Divine Good that was within Him and was the Essential Being (Esse) of His life, He also made His Human Divine Good, thus one with Jehovah. The Essential Being of His life was that which as it exists with others is called the soul from the father; and it was Divine Good itself or Divine Love. But regarding these matters, see what has been shown in the places referred to in 9194, 9315(end), 9528(end). As regards the Lord's expulsion of everything human derived from the mother, till at length He was not her son, see 9315 (end); and as regards 'the Son of Man', which the Lord calls Himself, that He is not Mary's son but Divine Truth, 9807.

[2] Glorification, where the Lord is the subject, means uniting His Human to Divinity itself that was within Him, thus to Jehovah His Father; and by uniting them He also made His Human Divine Good. This is clear from places in the Word which use the terms 'glory' and 'glorification' in reference to Jehovah or the Lord, as in Isaiah,

The glory of Jehovah will be revealed, and all flesh will see it together; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken. Isaiah 40:5.

In the same prophet,

I Jehovah have called You in righteousness, to open the blind eyes, to bring the bound out of prison. I am Jehovah, that is My name; and My glory I will not give to another. Isaiah 42:6-8.

And in the same prophet,

Jehovah will arise over You, and His glory will be seen over You. Nations will walk to Your light. Isaiah 60:2-3.

In these places the Lord is the subject, 'the glory of Jehovah' being used to mean the Lord in respect of Divine Truth; for Jehovah's glory is Divine Truth emanating from the Lord, 9429. That Divine Truth does not come from any other source is the Lord's teaching in John,

You have never heard the Father's voice nor seen His shape. John 5:37.

And since He is the Lord He is Jehovah Himself, for He says, 'I am Jehovah, that is My name; and My glory I will not give to another'.

[3] For this reason also the Lord is called 'the King of glory' in David,

Lift up your heads, O gates, and be lifted up, O ancient doors 1 , and the King of glory will come in. Who is this King of glory? Jehovah strong and mighty, Jehovah mighty in battle. Psalms 24:7-10.

Here the Lord is called 'the King of glory' by virtue of Divine Truth, with which He fought against, overcame, and subdued the hells. This was accomplished by His Human when He was in the world, see 9715, 9809, 10019. This is why He is called 'Jehovah strong and mighty in battle', and also a mighty one or 'hero' in Isaiah,

To us a Boy is born, to us a Son is given; His name is God, Hero, Father of Eternity. Isaiah 9:6.

[4] The Lord Himself teaches that Jehovah's glory is the Lord in respect of Divine Truth emanating from His Divine Good, which is Jehovah or the Father, in John,

The Word became flesh, and we saw His glory, glory as of the Only Begotten from the Father. John 1:14.

Here, where it is self-evident that the Lord is meant by the Word which became flesh, 'the Word' is Divine Truth, and so too is 'glory'. In Matthew,

The Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father. Matthew 16:27.

And in Luke,

Jesus said to the disciples, Ought not the Christ to have suffered this and to enter into His glory? Luke 24:26.

'Entering into His glory' means being united to Divine Good which was within Him, thus to Jehovah or His Father. For Jehovah the Father is God's Essential Being (Esse), and God in His Essential Being is Divine Love, thus also Divine Good; and the uniting of the Human to that Good is meant by 'entering into His glory'.

[5] From this it is evident what 'being glorified' means in the following places:

In John,

The Holy Spirit was not yet because Jesus was not yet glorified. John 7:39.

And in the same gospel,

These things Jesus' disciples did not know, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered ... . Jesus said, The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified. And He said, Father, glorify Your name. [Then] a voice came from heaven, I have both glorified it and will glorify it again. John 12:16, 23, 27-28.

And in the same gospel,

After Judas went out Jesus said, Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him. And God will glorify Him in Himself, and will glorify Him at once. John 13:31-32.

From these places it is evident that glorification is the uniting of the Lord's Human to Divinity itself which was within Him and is called Jehovah the Father, for it is said that 'God will glorify Him in Himself'. It is also evident from those places that the uniting was fully accomplished by the passion of the Cross, which was the last of His temptations. For the Lord glorified His Human by means of conflicts with hell, which are temptations, see the places referred to in 9528, 9937.

[6] The Lord Himself teaches that when He has been glorified Divine Truth emanates from Him, in John,

The Holy Spirit was not yet because Jesus was not yet glorified. John 7:39.

And in the same gospel,

The Paraclete, the Spirit of truth, whom I will send to you will not speak from Himself. He will glorify Me, for He will receive from what is Mine and declare it to you; all things whatever that the Father has are Mine. John 16:13-15, 28.

'The Spirit of truth' is Divine Truth emanating from the Lord, 9818. The uniting of the Human to the Divine within Him is also described here by the declaration that all things the Father has are His, and elsewhere by the declarations that the Father and He are one and that the Father is in Him and He is in the Father, John 10:30; 14:10-11; see 3704. Thus the glorification or uniting was reciprocal, which too is the Lord's teaching in John,

Father, glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You. John 17:1.

'Father' is the Divinity itself that was within Him, and 'Son' is the Divine Human.

'The Father' is Divine Good which is within the Lord, see 3704, 7499.

Jehovah in the Word is the Lord, 2921, 6303, 8865.

The Lord is Divinity itself, or Jehovah, in a Human form, see the places referred to in 9315.

Notes de bas de page:

1. literally, doors of the world

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.

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Arcana Coelestia #9715

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9715. 'From shittim wood' means righteousness. This is clear from the meaning of 'shittim wood' as the good of merit, and righteousness, which are the Lord's alone, dealt with in 9472, 9486. What righteousness and merit are, which are the Lord's alone, must be stated here and now. People think that the Lord earned merit and righteousness because He fulfilled all the requirements of the law and by His passion on the Cross saved the human race. But this is not what anyone should understand in the Word by the Lord's merit and righteousness. Rather they should understand by His merit and righteousness that He fought alone against all the hells and overcame them, and in so doing He restored to order everything in the hells and at the same time everything in the heavens. For each person has spirits from hell present with him, and angels from heaven; without them a person cannot lead any life at all. Unless the hells had been overcome by the Lord and the heavens restored to order no one could ever have been saved.

[2] Salvation could not have been won except through His Human, that is to say, except through conflicts with the hells, fought from His Human. And since the Lord did this by His own power, thus did it alone, to the Lord alone belong merit and righteousness. And for the same reason it is He alone who still conquers the hells with a person; for He who conquers them once conquers them for evermore. No one therefore has any merit or righteousness whatever; yet the Lord's merit and righteousness are his when he acknowledges that none is attributable to himself but all to the Lord. So it is that the Lord alone regenerates a person; for regenerating a person involves driving the hells away from him, consequently the evils and falsities which come from the hells, and implanting heaven in place of them, that is, forms of the good of love and the truths of faith since these constitute heaven. Through the conflicts engaged in repeatedly with the hells the Lord also glorified His Human, that is, made it Divine; for even as a person is regenerated by means of conflicts, which are temptations, so the Lord was glorified by means of conflicts, which were temptations. The glorification of the Lord's Human by His own power therefore is also merit and righteousness; for through this the person is saved because through it the Lord holds all the hells in subjection for evermore.

[3] The truth of all this is clear from places in the Word where the Lord's merit and righteousness are referred to, as in Isaiah,

Who is this who comes from Edom, with spattered clothes from Bozrah, marching in the vast numbers of His strength? I who speak in righteousness, mighty to save. Why are You red as to Your clothes, and Your clothes like his that treads in the winepress? I have trodden the winepress alone, and from the peoples not a man (vir) was with Me. Therefore I have trodden them in My anger, and trodden them down in My fury. Consequently their blood 1 has been sprinkled on My clothes, and I have stained all My clothing. For the day of vengeance was in My heart, and the year of My redeemed had come. I looked around, but there was no helper, and I wondered, but there was no one to uphold; therefore My own arm brought salvation to Me, and My own fury sustained Me. And I trod down the peoples in My anger, and shed their blood onto the ground. 2 Therefore He became the Saviour. Isaiah 63:1-8.

These words, it is well known, have regard to the Lord. His conflicts with the hells are described by the references to spattered clothes, redness as to His clothes, clothes like his that treads in the winepress, and to the day of vengeance. His victories over the hells and His placing them in subjection are described by the statements that He trod them in His anger, as a consequence of which their blood was sprinkled on His clothes, and that He trod down the peoples in fury 3 and shed their blood onto the ground. The Lord's doing these things by His own power is described by the statements that He trod the winepress alone and from the peoples not a man was with Him; that He looked around but there was no helper, He wondered but there was no one to uphold; and that His own arm brought salvation to Him. Salvation coming as a result of all this is described by the statements that He was marching in the vast numbers of His strength, mighty to save; that the year of His redeemed had come; and that therefore He became their Saviour.

[4] The fact that all these things are aspects of righteousness is even more plainly evident elsewhere in the same prophet,

He saw that there was no man (vir), and wondered that there was no intercessor; therefore His own arm brought salvation to Him, and His righteousness lifted Him up. Consequently He put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation upon His head. He put on clothes of vengeance, and covered Himself with zeal as if with a cloak. Isaiah 59:16-17.

And in the same prophet,

My righteousness is near, My salvation has gone forth, and My arms will judge the peoples. In Me the islands will hope, and on My arm they will trust. Isaiah 51:5.

'The arm' which brought salvation to Him and on which they will trust is His own power by which He placed the hells in subjection, 'arm' being power, see 4932, 7205. From this it is evident what righteousness is and what merit is, which are the Lord's alone.

[5] Something similar occurs elsewhere in the same prophet,

Who stirred up [One] from the East, [One] whom in righteousness He called to be His follower, gave the nations before Him, and caused Him to have dominion over kings? Isaiah 41:2.

In the same prophet,

I have caused My righteousness to draw near, it is not far off; My salvation will not delay. Isaiah 46:13.

In the same prophet,

Jehovah will clothe Me with the garments of salvation; with the robe of righteousness He has covered Me. Isaiah 61:10.

In David,

My mouth will tell of 4 Your righteousness, of Your salvation all the day; I cannot measure them. 5 I will make mention of Your righteousness, Yours alone. Do not forsake me, until I have declared Your arm, Your power; for Your righteousness [reaches] all the way to the highest, O You who have done great things. Psalms 71:15-16, 18-19, 24.

In Jeremiah,

Behold, the days are coming when I will raise up for David a righteous branch, who will reign as King, and will prosper, and execute judgement and righteousness in the land. In His days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is His name which they will call Him, Jehovah our Righteousness. Jeremiah 23:5-6; 33:15-16.

And in Daniel,

Seventy weeks have been decreed to atone for iniquity, and to bring everlasting righteousness. 6 Daniel 9:24.

[6] The truth that righteousness and merit, which are the Lord's alone, consist in the Lord's subjection of the hells, His restoration of the heavens to order, and the glorification of His Human, and in the salvation that results from all this for the person who receives the Lord in love and faith, becomes clear from the places which have just been quoted. Yet people can have no understanding of this if they do not know that spirits from hell are present with a person and that from them evils and falsities come to him, and also that angels from heaven are present and that from them forms of good and truths come to him; if they do not know that a person's life is for this reason linked on one side to the hells and on the other to the heavens, that is, through the heavens to the Lord; and if they do not know that therefore no one could ever be saved unless the hells had been subdued and the heavens restored to order, and all things had accordingly been made subject to the Lord.

[7] From all this it may be seen why it should be that the good of merit that is the Lord's is the one and only good that reigns in the heavens, as stated above in 9486. For the good of merit now consists also in the everlasting subjection of the hells and the protection of true believers. This good is the good of the Lord's love; for it was from Divine Love that He engaged in conflict while in the world and was victorious. And it is from Divine Power in the Human acquired through that victory that, then and for evermore, on behalf of heaven and the Church and thus the entire human race, He fights alone, conquers, and so brings salvation. This then is the good of merit, which is called righteousness; for the work of righteousness consists in keeping the hells in check as they try to destroy the human race, and in protecting and saving those who are good and are true believers.

Regarding the Lord's conflicts or temptations when He was in the world, see 1663, 1668, 1690, 1691 (end), 1692, 1737, 1787, 1812, 1813, 1820, 2776, 2786, 2795, 2803, 2814, 2816, 4287, 7193, 8273.

The Lord fights alone for the human race against the hells, 1692 (end), 6574, 8159, 8172, 8175, 8176, 8273, 8969.

Notes de bas de page:

1. literally, victory

2. literally, caused their victory to go down into the earth

3. The Latin means anger.

4. literally, will enumerate

5. literally, do not know the numberings

6. The Latin word rendered righteousness is sometimes translated justice, as it is in at least one previous quotation of this verse.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.